Black Mesa: Quantum Catalyst
by nioa
Summary: "...At 9:47 AM, Mountain Time, a disaster of unknown type has occurred at the Black Mesa Research Facility causing significant damage and failure to various power and communication systems in the surrounding areas. An immediate evacuation order has been issued for all residents within a 75 mile radius of the facility. Do not return to the warning area."


**DISCLAIMER:** _I do not own any of the characters, areas, or objects mentioned within the story. All characters, areas, and objects are owned by Valve Corporation, and, due to reference, the Black Mesa Development Team (also known as the Crowbar Collective). This story was written for entertainment purposes. Please enjoy._

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 1: BLACK MESA INBOUND<strong>

*_USA, New Mexico, The Black Mesa Research Facility, May 16th, 2009_*

*_7:50AM_*

The sun began to rise in the distance, light illuminating areas previously oblivious and sheltered from the former night sky. The mesa stood tall in the distance, it's incredible stature making it close enough to pierce the clouds that float among the skies. Birds flew through these clouds with ease, and looked down below, to see the rocky climate of New Mexico. The temperature on the surface was an astounding thirty-nine degrees, but to the average scientist and civilian residing within the complex of the_ Black Mesa Research Facility_, it was quite warm compared to harsher temperatures felt prior.

Within Black Mesa, scientists, both male and female, were hard at work, attempting to maintain control, and prepare the facility for the experiment set to occur in fifteen minutes. Constant check-ups on various laboratory equipment, to ensure absolute and pure results in the recently discovered sample. It was said to be the "purest sample" the science team has seen yet and, with this in mind, the Black Mesa Administrator demanded that the _Anti-Mass Spectrometer_: the device that will be used to examine and gather information from the sample, have it's power boosted up to 105%. Scientists were reluctant to do so, with Dr. Eli Vance down right opposing the decision, as it was beyond the device's safety buffer.

"Dr. Bree- I mean, Administrator! You're being unreasonable! We have no idea what sort of catastrophe this could unleash, nor would we be able to handle it!" Eli Vance argued, his voice roaring as he could see the ignorance within the Administrator.

"Dr. Vance, I have concluded that in order to receive the best information we can on _sample GG-3883_, we MUST push the Anti-Mass Spectrometer past the safety buffer. The possibility of a resonance cascade is incredibly unlikely, Dr. Vance. Besides, the probability of it occurring is in a 1 out of 1,000,000 chance," Dr. Breen provided his retort, "besides, you have no power here. There is no changing my decision. Your objections have been overruled. Now, please, if you will, prepare some changes for the experiment regarding this. Otherwise, I could just simply have you and your family removed from the confines of the facility."

Vance was frustrated. Going forward with the experiment with these conditions would prove to be a risk that humanity would not be able to take. He was ready to tell everyone to abort it, as he could not bear seeing the consequences if the sample was investigated like this. But most of all, what of his family? They would be in peril. His beautiful wife, and his young, cute daughter. He would be essentially broken if he lost them. However, could this test really prove advantageous towards humanity? It could, but perhaps not. He was gambling here, and he did not want to make the incorrect decision. His anger subsided. He simply nodded and headed his way, off to the Sector C Test Labs. Breen simply smiled as the scientist turned his back towards him, and opened the door leading out of his office.

"Thank you, Dr. Vance," the Administrator said, "It would be unfortunate to see your talents removed from our science team. Your talents and knowledge is beneficial for Black Mesa, and I am glad you have decided to conform with my decision. Good luck with the test."

Vance simply continued walking towards the tram station, ignoring Breen's appreciation. Suddenly, he heard a brief static-like sound, coming from his desk. He quickly sat down, and answered.

"_Uhhm, Dr. Breen? Administrator? Sir...?_" a voice called from the small intercom, static accompanying the man's already barely audible voice. Breen was confused as to why the intercom was barely functional at this moment, but he disregarded it as some mere technological difficulties that they would soon be relieved of.

"Yes, yes, I'm here. What is it? Is it about Dr. Vance? He is currently making his way towards the lab for some last minute changes, so do not worry. He will be but a moment." Breen replied to the man.

"_Uhh, yes, sir. We were perfectly fine with that but, uh..._" the man's voice cut off, the static heard in the background remaining. Breen was growing concerned with this, and was ready to end the conversation, when his voice began to speak once more. _"... Apologies, Dr. Breen. We're having some technical difficulties right now, so we may have to postpone the test by a few minutes. But then, there's another problem._"

"And that would be?"

"_One key employee is missing at the moment. We still lack the scientist that is supposed to man the sample delivery cart. I believe it was a..._" the intercom cut off once more, causing Breen to sigh. He awaited the end of the message, and was beginning to lose his patience. "_Agh! Blast these damned technological-_"

"... Hello? Doctor, are you still with us?" Breen spoke through the intercom, expecting a response. He was growing tired of having to wait for messages regarding potentially urgent issues that must be resolved.

"_... And there we go! Ah, yes, sir. I am still on the line. I must hurry before these_-" the man began to speak in a quick manner, before being cut off by the rather frustrated Administrator.

"Doctor, I asked you a question," Breen interrupted the hasty employee, before continuing on. "Who are we missing as of this moment, again?" He finished.

"_Uhmm... Dr. Gordon Freeman._"

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><p><em>*8:43 AM*<em>

The 27 year old ran towards the nearly isolated tram station, with barely any other human beings to be seen. This early in the morning, the majority of the science team and civilians living with within the complex were finishing up their breakfasts, or already off to work. As it was the "special day" as most of the science team would refer to it as, due to the upcoming experimentation involving a mysterious sample that was brought in, which was stated by some to be pure compared to previous test samples. But, he was not concerned about that right now. All he wanted to do was make it to the test labs as quickly as possible.

He finally reached the station. He stopped near the tracks, his hands clutching his legs and sweat dripping down his forehead. He was quite fit, but he had to run a rather lengthy route in order to board the tram leading to the _Sector C Test Labs_. He regained his composure, and stood up, tightening his disoriented tie, and sweeping off tiny amounts of dust laying atop his lab coat.

"Ah! Dr. Freeman!" a man monitoring a large group of cameras greeted him. "It seems you're somewhat late. Although I reckon that some of the scientists will be rather unhappy with your late arrival, I find it to be beneficial... In some regard."

"Uhmm, thank you?" Freeman responded, confused by that last string of words to come out of the man's mouth. He did not see how him being late to such an important experiment would help the team at all. Freeman was simply anticipating the arrival of the tram, when another tram past by the inbound station. Inside, a familiar figure sat down, waiting to reach their destination. Freeman knew who that was, but could not make them out as only the side of their face. The person turned to look towards the station, and Freeman realized who it was. That haircut, and his cleanly shaven chin. It was Barney Calhoun, a good friend, and co-employee at Black Mesa. He stuck his tongue at Freeman in a joking manner, with Gordon rolling his eyes, before chuckling. Barney's tram continued on, whilst Freeman was still without a tram.

"Eh, I can't be that late, right?" Freeman said to himself. He was not in possession of a watch, and as far as he was concerned, the digital clock that was displayed in the inbound train station was strangely not showing the current time.

Multiple minutes had passed. He was starting to grow concerned as to why his tram had not yet arrived and, as with every long wait, decided to reflect on certain topics on his life. This time, he thought about when Black Mesa will officially prevail and conduct the first ever working portal device. Him and the science team at Black Mesa had been competing for quite a long time with the rival company, Aperture Science. Both of them had been working on portal experimentation for quite some time, but Freeman believed that they may finally win the race, as they were nearing absolute success with their research. As he smirked, he noticed in the distance an incoming tram. He readied himself.

"_NOW ARRIVING AT: TRAM STATION E. DESTINATION: SECTOR C TEST LABS,_" the robotic female voice droned as the tram came to a halt, right in front of Gordon. He stepped inside of the tram, and took a seat near the back.

Usually, soothing, classical music would play during these small time intervals, but due to the rush and hard work needed for the test today, no one would man the tram music service. On these types of days, they would usually just loop announcements until there would be no point to loop said announcements once more. Freeman simply pulled the MP3 player tucked away into his pocket out, and plugged his ear buds in. He scrolled through a large list of titles to choose from, but, he chose his favourite as always. Horizon, by Nujabes. His ears now listening to the pleasuring sound of the human art form known as music, he laid back, and waited to arrive at his destination.

As the tram was moving on, he saw various scientists and officers engaged in various tasks. Some were maintaining the pipes, others were still recovering from the technological errors that were starting to seem common around the facility. During his trip, he noticed someone else was late too.

"W-wait. Is that...?" Freeman wondered. He had the same height as Barney. He was wearing the same outfit. Although, all security personnel are required to wear the same blue dress shirt, and black with yellow striped pants. The officer scratched his head, and banged on the door two times, before turning around and sighing. And so, the two crossed paths again. Freeman's assumptions were proven corrected, as Calhoun spotted him once more. Mimicking his actions from earlier, Freeman stuck his tongue out, and with that, Barney replied by mimicking Gordon's actions from earlier: rolling his eyes, and turning back to the locked door the other officer was having troubles with. Freeman's tram kept on traveling.

The tram slowly lowered itself to the ground level, the mesa outside able to be seen from inside the tram. It was a beautiful sight to him, and he adored the rocky formations that surrounded the facility. As it stopped for a brief moment, the tram attached itself to another line that continued onward, into a cave. As he was sitting up, he simply listened to music, waiting to reach the test labs. He sighed as the journey was taking several minutes. He slumped onto the somewhat-comfortable seats provided on the tram, but not before he adjusted his slanted glasses.

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><p><em>*8:48 AM*<em>

His hands were hovering above his stomach, finger tips connecting in a somewhat triangle formation. The song had begun to repeat, and he pulled both ear buds out as the tram had just entered the complex once more. He saw multiple things. A robot carrier holding some crates in front of itself. It was incredibly close to his tram, but luckily, they were a few feet apart. To his left, he spotted a tram that was halted. An elderly scientist sat down, rubbing his face, and another man. A rather pale, middle aged man that seemed... Out of place. But, who was he to judge. He focused his sights on the path ahead, and noticed something very dangerous.

Below him, a massive pool of radioactive liquids had leaked out of the container to the left, secured upon a platform held up by multiple pillars. Freeman could just hear a faint alarm, as one scientist was attempting to prevent further contamination of the area through a console, whilst another was banging on the door, panicking and fearing for his life. Freeman was perplexed by how such an issue could unfold. Was the maintenance team even keeping check on the containers that carried life-harming chemicals? He pondered on how such people could be incompetent, even in the basic field of repairing small, cracks in such large containment areas. He shook his head, and hoped that those two would make it out of that area without any further radiation exposure. As he looked onward, he could see the walkway that would lead to the labs.

"_NOW ARRIVING AT: SECTOR C TEST LABS,_" the voice announced, as the tram began to slow down in front of the cat walk, the exit door slowly aligning itself with the catwalk.

The security officer positioned near the large, metallic door leading into the labs nodded towards Gordon, as a greeting. He walked towards the tram door, as Freeman got off the seat, checked the area for belongings, and waited for the officer to open the tram door. He never understood why they needed to do this, but he usually came to the conclusion that it was for security measures.

"G'mornin', Dr. Freeman," the guard spoke, typing into the tram door keypad, "looks like you're runnin' late." the tram door slid to the right, allowing Freeman to exit. The officer made the 'after you' gesture, as he knew that Freeman was running late, and in quite a rush.

"I know, I know," Freeman replied, "MIT graduates like me are usually used to partying and drinking at late nights, especially in high security private research facilities like this one." he joked, as they both made their way towards the front door that was shut before them.

"Hey, speakin' of drinking... Barney's been pretty scarce around these areas," the guard commented.

"Yeah?" Freeman responded in a questioning tone.

"Heh. Yeah. Guess his bar tab's finally caught up to 'em," the guard said, as he began to type in a code to the keypad. Freeman could hear the sound of multiple gears and pistons turning, as the large metallic door in front of him slowly opened. He turned towards the guard, who simply nodded.

"Put some pep in that step, Freeman. You're late enough as it is."

"The day wouldn't be any different if I hadn't arrived late," Freeman chuckled, as he straightened his tie. He could see another large metallic door at the end of the airlock, with a check-in station to the right, where an officer was watching multiple monitors, ensuring nothing goes wrong.

Freeman took a few steps, and could hear the machinery powering the doors working once more, before a large CLANK indicated that the doors had been shut once more. The officer looked towards him, squinting. Freeman was confused as to what he was looking for, and turned around, before shifting his vision back to the middle aged officer.

"... Awh, man, ya' cut the pony tail," the officer groaned, as he noticed Freeman had cut off his famous pony tail. Freeman saw no reason to possess one, and besides, he had told multiple employees several times that it was a one time occurrence due to a bet he made.

"Sellout..." the officer murmured under his breath, granting Freeman access into the lab by typing in a key code. The door in front of him opened, and the light of the laboratory lobby illuminated the dim airlock. Freeman simply ignored the insult.

And all of these people, both young and old, had no idea what sort of events were to occur as Freeman took a single step, entering the lobby.


End file.
